Nintendo had blamed the restriction on strict German laws that govern the sale of online games. Nintendo of Europe's servers are based in Germany, meaning the law affected gamers continent-wide.

"Dear Customer," today's message reads.

"Nintendo has lifted the access restrictions content rated 18+. Adults can now browse and buy all games at any time of the day.

"Following analysis of the Parental Controls system on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS in cooperation with USK, the German Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body, it was deemed that Nintendo's Parental Control system is of very high quality and offers a remarkable level of protection for children. Nintendo's Parental Control system was found to have proved itself in practice.

"Nintendo always encourages parents to make use of Parental Controls to control access to content they deem inappropriate for their children."

Eurogamer has verifed that the changes have indeed been made. You can now browse ZombiU screenshots or download Assassin's Creed 3 to your heart's content.

"At Nintendo we always aim to provide a safe gaming experience for fans of all ages and ensure that we comply with applicable legal age restriction requirements across Europe," a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer.